U-shaped water ski

ABSTRACT

THE INVENTION COMPRISES A WATER SLED HAVING A PAIR OF SKI MEMBERS, SAID SKI MEMBERS BEING FORMED OF ELONGATED WOODEN PLANKS AND A PAIR OF U-SHAPED PLASTIC SHEET MEMBERS, HAVING ITS LEG PORTIONS COVERING THE UPPER AND LOWER SURFACES OF THE PLANKS, A THIRD PLANK IS INTERPOSED BETWEEN THE UPPER AND LOWER PLASTIC SHEET MEMBERS AT THEIR APEX, RIBS ARE MOUNTED BENEATH THE LEGS OF THE LOWER PLASTIC SHEET MEMBERS AND ROPES ARE ATTACHED TO THE TOP OF THE SLED FOR AN OPERATOR TO GRASP WHILE STANDING ON THE LEGS OF THE UPPER PLASTIC SHEET MEMBER WHEREUPON THE SLED MAY BE TOWED ON THE WATER BEHIND A BOAT WITH THE OPERATOR STANDING THEREON.

June 22, 1971 A. E. THOMPSON U-SHAPED WATER sx:

Filed Sept. 5, 1969 FIG.4;

FI G.3.

INVENTOR Allan E. Thom pson ATTORNEY United States Patent 01 fice 3 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The invention comprises a water sled having a pair of ski members, said ski members being formed of elongated wooden planks and a pair of U-shaped plastic sheet members, having its leg portions covering the upper and lower surfaces of the planks, a third plank is interposed between the upper and lower plastic sheet members at their apex, ribs are mounted beneath the legs of the lower plastic sheet members and ropes are attached to the top of the sled for an operator to grasp while standing on the legs of the upper plastic sheet member whereupon the sled may be towed on the water behind a boat with the operator standing thereon.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the novel water ski sled invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view of the water ski sled device.

FIG. 3 is a bottom plan view of the water ski sled device.

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 4-4 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 5--5 of FIG. 3.

Briefly stated, the invention comprises a water ski sled having a pair of ski members, said ski members being formed of elongated wooden planks with a U-shaped plastic sheet member covering the tops of the planks and a U-shaped plastic sheet member having its legs covering the bottom of the planks, a third plank intermediate the pair of plan-ks with the plastic sheet member covering the third plank at the apex of the plastic sheet members, elongated ribs on the underside of the legs of the bottom plastic sheet member forming keels for the ski members.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, in FIGS. 1 and 3, the water ski sled invention 20 is illustrated having a pair of legs 21 and 22. The legs 21 and 22 are formed by a pair of elongated wooden planks 23 and 24 in parallelism with one another. A flexible U-shaped plastic sheet member 25 has its legs 26 and 26' covering the tops of the planks 23 and 24 and a lower U-shaped flexible plastic sheet member 27 has its legs 28 and 28' covering the bottom of the planks 23 and 24. A third wooden plank 29, which is relatively short, with respect to the planks 23 and 24 is positioned parallel to the forward portions 23' and 24 of the planks 23 and 24, and centrally therebetween. The plastic sheet members 25 and 27 have their apexes 30 covering the top and bottom of the plank 26.

A pair of flexible elongated plastic ribs 31 and 32 are moulded to the underside 33 of the legs 28 and 28 3,585,664 Patented June 22, 1971 of the plastic sheet member 27, and act as keels for the legs 21 and 23 of the ski sled invention 20.

A pair of fabric sheet members 34 and 34' have their three side edges 35, 35' and 35" fixed to the top surface 36 of the legs 37 and 37 with their fourth side edge 35' bowed upward to form open cones for the operator of the ski sled invention to place the forward ends of his feet therein.

A pair of ropes 38 and 39 have their one ends 38' and 39' tied to relative short ropes 40 and 41 respectively, and the short ropes 40 and 41 have their ends attached to handles 42 and 43 and the ropes 38 and 39' pass through eyelets 44 and 45, respectively, which eyelets are fixed to the forward end 46 of the ski sled 20, and the other ends 38 and 39" have conventional snap hooks 47 and 48 attached respectively thereto, and the hooks 47 and 48 are hooked over ropes 40 and 41, respectively.

The ropes 38 and 39 may be lengthened, to move the handles 42 and 43 further away from the eyelets 44 and by detaching the hooks 47 and 48 from the ropes 40 and 41 and re-attaching the hooks 47 and 48 to eyelets 44 and 45, when taller persons are operating the sled.

The sled 20 will be operated by being towed on the water by a power boat. The sled 20 will be attached to the power boat by a rope 49. The rope 49 has its one end 49' attached to an eyelet 50 which eyelet 50 is fixed to the underside of the sled 20. A snap hook 5'1 is attached to the forward end 49" of the rope 49. The hook 51 is in turn attached to a rope extending from the power boat.

The operator will stand on the sled, with his left foot in the cone 34 and his right foot in the cone 34 and with his left hand grasping handle 42 and his right hand grasping handle 43, and the sled invention will skim along the top of the water.

This sled will generally simulate water skis, by pro viding wooden planks 23 and 24 which are independent of one another and have sufficient resilience to allow the right and left legs 22 and 21, respectively, to flex with relative independence to one another, and the individual flexing of the legs 21 and 22 also enables the operator to ride the sled with greater ease. The plastic sheet members 25 and 27 also have sufiicient resilience to allow the planks 23 and 24 to flex with substantial independence of one another.

The ski sled invention 20 may also serve as a trainer for persons wishing to become proficient in water skiing. Also, the sled can be used in snow or pulled behind a snow-mobile.

Thus it will be seen that a novel water ski sled 20 has been provided which is of relatively lightweight and which would be relatively inexpensive to manufacture.

It will be obvious that various changes and departures may be made to the invention without departing from the spirit thereof and accordingly it is not intended that the invention be limited to that specifically described in the specification or as illustrated in the drawing, but only as set forth in the appended claims wherein:

What is claimed is:

1. A water ski sled having a pair of wooden planks, an upper U-shaped resilient plastic sheet member having its legs covering the tops of the planks, and lower Ujshaped plastic sheet members having its legs covering the bottom of the planks, said plastic sheet members being moulded together along their edges, covers mounted to the top of the legs of the upper plastic sheet members, and ropes extending from the apex of the top U-shaped plastic sheet member with handles at the outer ends of the ropes.

2. A water ski device according to claim 1 wherein a third plank is interposed between the upper and lower plastic sheet members at their apexes, and ribs extending along the underside of the legs of the lower plastic sheet members.

3. A water ski device according to claim 1 wherein the ropes are adjustable in length.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS MILTON BUCHLER, Primary Examiner 10 P. E. SAUBERER, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

